• GUFY trips
  • GUFY trips

39 US States plus

Una aventura de 32 días de GUFY trips Leer más
  • Drayton Valley (CER3), AB

    27 de mayo de 2016, Canadá ⋅ 🌧 8 °C

    Heading southeast tomorrow
    Time to get moving again. Looks like there is a slot between the waves of weather pummeling the US heartland. I plan to head southeast for two legs. Leg one is from Drayton Valley to Cut Bank MT to clear customs and get fuel. Leg 2 will go to Gillette WY.

    It is another day when conditions improve as the day wears on. So I plan to lift off some time after noon local time.

    Found a better airport to clear customs than Great Falls (KGTF) that you have on your list. I will be going to Cut Bank (KCTB) instead. Among other things it is closer to the border.
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  • CUT BANK (KCTB), MT

    28 de mayo de 2016, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    2.7 hour flight. Refueled.
    First leg was a cross border that required clearing American customs. You are supposed to land within fifteen minutes of time you specified before leaving.
    Since it is easier to slow down a lot than to speed up a lot, I padded the duration estimate. As it turned out I had a tailwind so I was going to arrive way too early. I cut power significantly so that airspeed was 20 knots less than otherwise. In the end I landed within 2 minutes of my specified time.

    Clearing customs only took a few minutes. As always they ran a radiation detector around the aircraft. Good thing my plane is not fusion powered.

    The pilot lounge in Cut Bank had the best facilities I have ever seen. Among other things it had a couple of rooms with made beds and towels, all complementary. There was even a fridge with beer.
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  • Racing from the sun

    28 de mayo de 2016, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    This is here only because I wanted to take a picture of the sun behind me. I stuck my camera out the open side window aimed backwards. The glint in the distance, under the sun, is Tongue River. Position is close to the Montana/Wyoming border just before Hanging Woman Creek. Colourful waterway names, but somewhat creepy.Leer más

  • Gillette (KGCC). WY

    28 de mayo de 2016, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Flight time 3.1 hours. Total for day is 5.8 hours 1254 km (677 nm).

    In Gillette they lent me their Subaru Forrester courtesy car.
    Noticed numerous mesas and the smaller buttes while flying to and from this airport. Antelope butte, in the photo, is about 15 km from the airport.
    This is coal mining area. One photo here is a large surface coal mining operation.
    Stayed the National 9 Inn.
    Tomorrow should have wind all the way as I move south then east. Planned stops are (KHEQ) Holyoke CO , (KNRN) Norton KS, (KCEK) Crete NE and (KTVK) Centerville IA.
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  • Holyoke (KHEQ), CO

    29 de mayo de 2016, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Flight of 2.4 hours. Refueled.
    Flat agricultural region. Land of cropdusters and irrigation.

    This leg went as planned except that the predicted tailwind was more of a direct more of a direct cross wind.
    Phoned a weather briefer to confirm the predicted forecast for the next leg has not changed, But it had. A line of thunderstorms was pushing into my destination Norton KS, spreading north and west.

    So I picked a closer destination in Kansas, Atwood. It was just a half hour hop.
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  • Atwood (KADT), KS

    29 de mayo de 2016, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Flight time 0.7 hours. Time zone change to CDT. Daily total 3.1 hours and 630 km (340 nm).

    I could see lightning further to the east before I landed. By the time I landed and chocked the wheels I noticed towering clouds had spread fast and were just east of the field. I was not familiar, or comfortable, with the speed of its development. I hurriedly tied down the plane and opened the spoilers. Got done just as the wind started to howl and rain began to fall.
    Waited about an hour then called a weather briefer the likelihood of the system dissipating so I could continue east. Nope. The pilot lounge had keys for two courtesy cars available. Took the old weather-worn Dodge.
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  • Atwood, KS

    29 de mayo de 2016, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Downtown. Stayed at "It'll Do" motel. The slogan on their sign is "Not a Hilton but... It'll Do". It was fine.
    This eclectic town of 2000 has an opera hall, army tank, and a friary.

    Currently the weather prognosis is not wonderful. Looks like I will have to slowly weave across the midwest, probably stopping at currently unplanned airports. Early morning looks good for departure from Atwood, but not for my next planned stop of Crete NE. Will have to decide what makes sense to go to at the time, with the distinct possibility of a major diversion to stay out of nastiness. Going to have to look for places that can hangar my plane if it gets real nasty.

    Around 5:30 pea sized hail fell for about ten minutes.
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  • Crete (KCEK), NE

    30 de mayo de 2016, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Flight of 1.6 hours. Refueled. Time zone changed to DCT.

    Finally got an early start, 7:30 local. The crappy forecast the previous evening did not materialize. This morning's briefer said there would be unpleasantness around Iowa and Illinois later in the day. So I got through there as fast as I could.

    Most people I met on the trip were very friendly and frequently talkative. An exception was the refueler here. After I taxied to the gas pumps we had a memorable, laconic conversation...
    He: Suppose you want some fuel?
    Me: Yes blah blah mogas blah blah.
    Later when I needed to use a phone to check the weather:
    Me: Do you have a phone I could use?
    He: Use this one
    After we both failed to get the phone to function...
    He: Guess you can't use this phone.

    The first photo is a 360 degree panorama featuring refueling. Actually I take panoramas of every new place I land. I tend to avoid them in this blog because the reduced resolution of images stored here makes them very pixelated when zoomed in attempting a better look.
    The second pic is of the airport cat. It spoke only a little less than the refueler.
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  • Lewis, MO

    30 de mayo de 2016, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Flight of 0.6 hours.
    The pilot lounge building was locked with no way to enter. They are often unattended. Normally they have a combination with a clue to its code that would be easy for any pilot flying there to determine. Not here.
    The 'show me' state left nothing to show.
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  • Jacksboro (KJAU), TN

    30 de mayo de 2016, Estados Unidos ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Flight of 0.6 hours. Time zone change to EDT. Daily total of 7.7 hours and 1625 km (877 nm).
    The sun was slipping over the ridge when I stopped. From first departure to final touchdown took 11.7 hours. Longest of the trip.

    The pilot's lounge door was locked. Although they have a courtesy car, its key was inside the locked building. The phone was inside there too. I found nothing previously to warn of this situation in the online airport info. Grrr.

    Since my phone does not work in the US, my choice was to either pitch my tent by the plane or walk to somewhere to call a cab. I started walking.

    This was when I was most apprehensive on the trip. Although I know virtually nothing about that region, the movie Deliverance came to mind. I reactivated and took the satellite tracker in case I got into a situation were I could warn potential thugs that my position was being tracked at all times.

    Just off the airport there was a single house. I expect my appearance was not the most pleasing after sitting for 12 hours in plane on a hot day. I knocked on the door. After some dog yapping and feet shuffling back and forth for about minute, no doubt wondering how to should respond, the door was opened to a middle aged woman. Telling her my plight she agreed to call a taxi. No, I don't think she was lonely, glad for any company.

    Stayed at the Super 8.

    Tomorrow the weather looks ok... so far. Only two states left, West Virginia and Ohio. Then on to Ontario to clear customs at Tillsonburg, before hopping over to Woodstock to visit my brother. Total air time should be under 4.5 hours. Slack day.
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  • Middlesboro (1A6), KY

    31 de mayo de 2016, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Flight time 0.3 hour.
    Unplanned stop.

    About ten minutes after Jacksboro, the engine began to run rough and have less power. I quickly decided to land at at the nearest airport, Middlesboro KY. Took off the cowlings and made sure the spark plug leads were tight. A ground test at max rpm followed by a flight test around the airport was satisfactory so I returned to the intended route.

    It was extremely hot and humid both here and at Jacksboro. Although temperatures were less than I saw in Arizona, humidity was high so the effective temperature was more extreme.

    The humidity induced haze, persisting throughout the day, is evident in the photos.
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